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Hiring a Professional
Genealogist
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If you are interested in
exploring your family history
you have several
options. It is all a
question of how much of your
own time you want to invest
and how much you enjoy the
process.The cost of a
genealogist may well average
out with the costs of doing it
yourself if you include
on-line subscriptions,
training and travel. When you
do the research yourself you
may spend far more time, but
partially because this is an
addictive pursuit. The bigger
question is whether you enjoy
developing a new area of
expertise and the research it
entails.
There are three
basic models for how you
can approach genealogy.
The first is to do
it yourself. If
this is the route you would
like to explore, you may want
to:
- Familiarize
yourself with key
websites such as
JewishGen.org and
explore their on-line
introductory class in
Jewish genealogy.
- Access
a free version of
Ancestry.com at
your local library or
make the investment in a
membership for your
first year of
research.
- Correspond
with or visit a
specific locality for
the records that are not
available on-line.
- Attend
the annual conference
of the IAJGS to
learn more about the
many aspects of Jewish
genealogy.
- Join your
local Jewish
genealogical society.
You will find a
listing of societies at
IAJGS.org. If you live
in the Twin Cities area,
check out mnjgs.org and
particularly the
Resource page.
- Study a
language in
which records are
written in such as
Russian or Hebrew
The second approach is one
that relies upon a genealogist
for targeted areas of
research.
Under this model you do the
more time-intensive research,
but draw on a genealogist to
access areas that are not
accessible to you because of
language, geography or depth
of knowledge. A
genealogist can provide:
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- Knowledge of
the information that
can be found in each
source, how to
locate the information
and how different
sources connect,
leapfrogging between
documents to find the
critical piece of
information to take you
to the next level.
- A way
to manage costs by
doing the
time-consuming search
on your own, but
drawing on a
professional for the
targeted assistance.
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The third approach
is one of hiring
an experienced genealogist
to do your searching.
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- When you work
with a genealogist they
will ask you to provide
as much information as
possible as a
starting point.
You will want to talk
with family members to
glean anything they know
about your family
history. A genealogist
will want to know what
you have found to date.
With their deeper base
of knowledge, they may
derive new directions
from it that might not
occur to you.
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- The experienced
genealogist can
develop a research
plan to address
your search in as
efficient a manner as
possible.
- Knowledge and experience
allows the trained
genealogist to make
linkages that an
inexperienced person
would likely miss.
- Anyone who you
hire should provide you
with scans of
records and an
organized document that
identifies what they
have searched, what they
have located and areas
they have explored and
excluded.
- While hiring
someone increases your
chances of locating
records that exist,
keep in mind that they
will also expend
time eliminating
certain avenues of
inquiry. Some
areas have little on-line
access so you need to be
cognizant of what is
available to search in
that manner or consider
hiring a researcher
overseas to go to the
archives.
You may find yourself
employing a combination of
these approaches, hiring
a researcher who has access to
certain locales or expertise,
while doing your own research
to the extent possible.
Whatever approach (es) you
choose, you will find this to
be an exciting and fascinating
journey. |
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